Ranking: John Lewis overtakes M&S in customer satisfaction poll

Consumers rated John Lewis 86.7 out of 100, a score that has increased from 85.5 in January and 85 in July, last year.

The ranking is based on 60,000 responses by over 15,000 customers representative of the UK population. It is put together by the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) and published bi-annually.

John Lewis’ improved score suggests that strategies like bringing back the ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ price-match guarantee are resonating well with consumers. The retailer’s own figures show that making this promise led to a six-point gain in its net promoter score and feedback from consumers that it offered better value for money.

Sales at the department store held steady last year at £4.8bn, but increased by 3% in the second half of the year. Parent organisation the John Lewis Partnership has pledged £600m for transformation of its business, including store refurbishment and technology upgrades.

“Our customers appreciate our investments in quality products, value and service with more people shopping with us and millions benefitting from our Never Knowingly Undersold price promise,” said Peter Ruis, managing director at John Lewis.

M&S’ food business had topped the January ranking among retailers, with its latest score of 85.6 only very marginally down (from 85.8) a few months later. That is particularly impressive given the degree of disruption caused by the cyber attack in April.

Much more notably, given the disruption primarily affected the non-grocery part of its business, customers rated M&S non-food offerings even higher (85.4) than they did in January (83.4). The ICS separates out the two parts of the retailer’s trading in its rankings.

Chief executive Stuart Machin said at the company’s AGM last week that the retailer hoped to be fully online again within a month. He added that “half of online” is currently open.

“Successful retailers understand a consistent focus on the customer drives brand loyalty, trust and sustainable growth – and, as our research shows, enables organisations to weather difficult events, such as cyberattacks,” said Jo Causon, chief executive of the ICS.

Average satisfaction with food retailers was 80.6, up from 1.2 points since last July. Non-food retailers performed even better at 81.5 on average, which was four points higher than the average score among all sectors.

In terms of sectors doing better than retail, the standout is banks & building societies. The overall ranking was topped by first direct, with Starling Bank also finishing marginally ahead of John Lewis.

Timpson was the overall leader in January’s ranking, but is classed as a service provider by the ICS rather than a retailer. In July’s edition, it slipped just outside the top 10.

Buy now pay later (BNPL) provider Klarna, which has helped drive a huge rise in BNPL in UK digital spending, also featured in the top 10 with a score of 84.8.